Burglars strike Rice Hall over break

Metropolitan and University police are investigating a series of burglaries of administrative offices on campus.

On March 19, eight offices in Rice Hall were broken into, according to a UPD crime report.

UPD Chief Dolores Stafford said offices on the second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth floors were burglarized. She said while intruders entered several vice presidents’ offices, University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg’s suite was not burglarized.

Stafford said UPD wasn’t sure whether there is more than one suspect and that the doors to the offices were pried open with a screwdriver. UPD is reviewing footage from a security camera overlooking the entrance to Rice Hall.

Stafford said she was puzzled by the burglaries, noting that pocket- knives and change were taken, while stereo equipment and laptop computers were left alone.

“Fortunately, nothing of value was taken in the incidents,” said Bob Ludwig, assistant director for media relations.

Stafford said there wasn’t enough evidence to connect the Rice Hall burglaries with a March 17 office burglary in the Medical Faculty Associates building. She added that UPD and MPD were unable to determine how the door was pried open in that case. Among the items taken were postage stamps, a bottle of aspirin and an alarm clock.

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